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	Grass Roots: Catholics Give Church Poor Grades on Response to Sex Scandal By Pat Schneider Capital Times October 26, 2011 http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/grassroots/article_1f504782-ff58-11e0-ac42-001cc4c03286.html Nearly a decade since American bishops adopted a zero tolerance policy in the wake of a clergy abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church, the view from the pew is they are not doing a good job of handling accusations of abuse, the National Catholic Reporter says in its report on a new survey. Sixty-nine percent of Catholics think Catholic bishops have done a fair or poor job following up on accusations of abuse by priests, with older people assessing their efforts more harshly than younger members of the church. Older Catholics also are more likely to say that the scandal has hurt the political credibility of church leaders who speak out on social or political issues, but overall more than 80 percent of respondents to the survey say it has muted the voice of the church. These are among responses from 1,442 respondents to an online survey conducted in April and May. The critical assessment of the bishops' efforts to end sex abuse in the church was made before the indictment of Kansas City bishop Robert Finn, points out John Pilmaier, Wisconsin director for SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Finn was charged with a misdemeanor earlier this month for failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest accused of taking pornographic photos of children. The bishop reportedly waited months to report the allegations against the priest to police, during which time the priest is said to have taken lewd photographs of another child. The indictment, " is another signal to Catholics that their leaders have yet to make child protection their top priority," Pilmaier says in a statement released Tuesday. In response to alarm over mounting revelations of sexual abuse of minors by priests, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 drafted a charter setting procedures for local dioceses to handle allegations of sexual abuse of minors and report them to civil authorities. But, SNAP leaders have protested, the church guidelines provide no punishment for church officials who violate the policy by ignoring or concealing child sex crimes. The charter was revised early this year to declare child pornography as a crime against church law. Pilmaier called on Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the bishops' conference, to rebuke Finn and "send a powerful message to the bishops, and to Catholics, that such reckless endangerment of children no longer will be tolerated."
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